Delightful. Unique. Gifted. Our children mean more than the world to us and, if you think about it, it’s pretty silly that we, as a civilization, have decided the best thing for them is to chase them off to school to spend their happiest years with overworked groan-ups and other people’s (feral) offspring. It’s absolutely […]
Thanks to Pippa for these short videos from the United Kingdom’s Time to Change campaign. They’re short and engaging. You may like to pass them on to people you know who have friends or family with mental health problems (ie, almost everyone you know!) The Time to Change campaign website has some great resources and […]
I don’t want to say our Pancake Party wasn’t the best time in town, but it can hardly be compared to the scale and splendour on offer at Carnival, Karneval and Mardi Gras celebrations around the world. One of my favourite blogs is The Big Picture, a collection of news photography from around the world, […]
What kind of parent were you going to be like? Did you always imagine yourself going on daily nature adventures or doing crafts with your pre-schoolers? Reading aloud around the fire on winter evenings? Dispensing your hard-won wisdom to a rapt audience of eager teenagers? If you thought about parenting much before you had kids, […]
We’re in Melbourne for a course my husband is doing (lucky me to be here and not doing a course!) and today I was out walking with SBJ in the suburbs. I saw a sign I liked on a building. I didn’t have my camera, but it said something like: One in five Australians lives […]
Much as with our teacher-appreciation lists the other day, most of us will be fortunate enough to be able to list some of the adults who took an interest in us as we grew up, and beyond. When I was eleven, Chris H gave me my first ‘fancy book,’ to start my grown-up book collection, […]
For the first time in 16 months, the fog is lifting. I am feeling ‘normal’ over half the time now, and it feels amazing. Most of the time, now, I can cope with the unexpected, I can make decisions, I can bounce back from disappointments. I am regaining creativity in a few directions. I’m […]
I considered procuring a sackcloth onesie recently. A couple of months ago, SBJ began to add sit-down-in-the-street protests to his repertoire of new behaviours. If he wanted to run off independently in a carpark but was restrained, or, maddeningly, if we wanted him to walk but he wanted to be carried, then all in an […]
If you’re a preacher, a parishioner, or someone fascinated by ye olde Puritanism, you may want to check this out. I’m a contributor to Kiwi-Made Preaching, and this week was my turn. The blog has been hibernating for a year, but has woken up alert, ravenous and ready for conversation. Feel free to check it out, […]
If you have kids and if you are lucky enough to have someone in your life who can look after them beautifully for a whole day (in yesterday’s case, my kind husband), you can: leave the house lightly laden think jaywalk have a leisurely breakfast over four courses at the cool new cafĂ© down the […]